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Posted on 07/18/2025 5:24:53 AM PDT by Morgana
FRANKLIN — A cold case from 1994 that captured national attention was the focus of a significant update from Franklin Police on Monday.
The press conference took place at the gravesite of the infant known as Baby Hope, located in Greenlawn Cemetery, marking the first major update on the murder case in several years.
On April 13, 1994, two boys searching through a trash can in Temple Park in Franklin for aluminum cans stumbled upon the body of a newborn infant.
The preliminary investigation revealed that the baby had been stabbed to death shortly after her birth. The discovery shocked the Franklin community and raised questions about the circumstances surrounding the infant's death.
Franklin Police announced that after 31 years, they had identified the baby’s biological parents. The mother was identified as Cheryl Dawn Larson, and the father is Paul Shepherd, who cooperated with investigators.
During the investigation, Shepherd was given the opportunity to name the baby, choosing to name her Hope Shepherd.
He issued the following statement:
Paul Shepherd was shocked and grieved to learn that the child known as Hope was his child. Mr. Shepherd was completely unaware that a woman with whom he had a brief relationship was pregnant with his or anyone's child. He first became aware that the child was his after voluntarily providing a DNA sample to police. The shock of this revelation was overwhelming and continues to be so still today.
Mr. Shepherd continues to struggle with the grief which has exacerbated his health conditions and from which he can find no relief. The very thought that a child fathered by him was subjected to such evil is one he cannot escape from.
(Excerpt) Read more at wrtv.com ...
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I hate this story.
That said, it seems like genetic genealogy should be able to solve this.
Unfortunately no, I remember the case because I was born and raised in Indiana and was back in state after being overseas for a number of years when it first happened. Work has kept me away since then so I didn’t keep up with it.
“Where was this - no state named”
I Googled the TV station’s call letters and it appears to be Indiana.
You’re right about the facts, the timeline, etc. It is TERRIBLY written!
We are so bombarded with people and stories anymore that we have trouble keeping up with everything. I see pictures of someone on TV and think I remember them but for what? Where have they been? The only answer to any of this is throw out the TV and the computer...go back to Solitaire the old fashioned way!
“”I Googled the TV station’s call letters and it appears to be Indiana.””
Like a true FReeper, I didn’t see Indiana at the top of the paper....
I did google the story as someone else suggested - that there was more information available but it just compounded the problem. Found out at least from some articles that the mother died before the file was opened again - that was left out at the beginning and would have at least answered that question - can’t be charged because she’s dead. I still didn’t find out HOW they ID the mother - they said DNA but from what?
You know what? I don’t care anymore. If I had been this curious in all my years on earth, I could not have survived. The closer to the end I get, I want to have answers. I have to knock it off!!
BUT summing it up, it does seem that we are asking for problems when we read these articles as they all or almost all poorly written driving us bonkers!
I know nothing else. Your question about where got me to dig that far. I may have some time after work today to dig.
You know what? It really doesn’t matter. I found some other news articles with different information - the mother died before the investigation was reopened, she can’t be charged etc..have no idea how they learned her identity. The biological father used the name Hope because that is the name the community gave the baby for a burial and service..so that answered that.
Sad story but certainly thousands more like it in our world and we can’t know all the facts about each and every one of them. I refuse to give in to my curiosity - LOL - I’m just curious about things that don’t make sense. I just want details not the WHY someone did something....we have those answers..it’s because some people are just plain goofy!
Most articles today are not written well. In this one, the mother’s name is spelled two different ways.
But the police don’t seem to know much more than what’s been reported. They are still investigating the case.
The article below says she was married at that time in 1994. She would’ve been about 31 years old then. It doesn’t mention how long she’d been married by that point, but her “then-husband” was not the father.
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